Planters First Bank, a community bank in Cordele, Ga., announced Tuesday that it is replacing its 20-year-old core banking system with Jack Henry’s Banno Digital Platform.

The $370 million bank has roots in agricultural banking but is now expanding to serve small- to medium-sized businesses in urban areas and will focus on professional services firms and technology innovators, according to a release. Its core system was 20 years old and unable to support the bank’s plan for 10% yearly growth.

Jack Henry’s jhaEnterprise Workflow has allowed the bank to automate business processes by escalating customer requests to the approval group within minutes rather than hours, the release said.

Fintech Amount acquires SMB loan and account origination platform for $175M

Chicago-based fintech Amount announced Tuesday its acquisition of Linear Financial Technologies, a small- and mid-size business loan and account origination platform, for $175 million.

Amount offers banks account opening, loan origination and buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing solutions.

Linear will rebrand and operate as Amount Small Business. Sam Graziano, CEO of Linear, will join Amount’s executive team as head of Amount Small Business.

Amount’s headcount will grow to nearly 600 employees once the transaction is complete. The company will operate offices in New York City, Reston, Va., Chicago and Los Angeles.

FNBC Bank & Trust expands use of Numerated

Chicago-based FNBC Bank & Trust announced Tuesday that it is expanding its use of commercial loan automation vendor Numerated’s digital loan origination system.

The $650 million bank initially implemented Numerated to support Paycheck Protection Program loans, and then deployed the vendor’s digital loan origination system for the bank’s full suite of business and commercial lending products, John Madden, FNBC’s CEO, said in the announcement.

Silvergate Capital buys IP, tech assets from Facebook’s Diem Group

Silvergate Capital Corp., a holding company for San Diego-based Silvergate Bank, announced Monday that it has acquired intellectual property and technology assets for running a blockchain-based payment network from Facebook’s Diem Group.

The acquisition marks a further investment in the $2.3 billion bank’s platform and will enhance its stablecoin infrastructure, according to the announcement.

The assets include development, deployment and operations infrastructure and tools for running a blockchain-based payment network, the announcement said. Also included are proprietary software elements the bank said are critical to running a regulatory-compliant stablecoin network. Built over two years, the network is designed to facilitate payments for commerce and cross-border remittances. It has been operating in a pre-launch phase.

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